“Act like you love me, please,” the woman said to a single dad in the park, then his reaction cha

A Desperate Request in the Park

“Act like you love me, please,” the woman said to a single dad in the park. Then his reaction changed everything. “Before we continue, please tell us where in the world are you tuning in from? We love seeing how far our stories travel.”

Brooke Palmer was sitting on a bench at Laurelhurst Park in Portland on a Sunday afternoon in late September. She was trying to read the same page of her book for the third time.

She kept glancing up every few seconds because she had this creeping feeling she was being watched. This turned out to be completely accurate.

Her ex-boyfriend Derek was sitting on a bench about 50 feet away. He was pretending to look at his phone but was definitely staring at her.

This was the fourth time in two weeks he’d coincidentally shown up wherever she was. Brooke was running out of patience. She’d broken up with him four months ago.

She had told him at least a dozen times in increasingly firm language that it was over. She didn’t want to get back together.

But Dererick apparently thought persistence was romantic instead of what it actually was, which was creepy and exhausting. The breakup had been a long time coming.

Dererick had spent their entire year-long relationship slowly making Brooke’s world smaller. He questioned why she needed to hang out with friends when she had him.

He checked her phone under the guise of “we shouldn’t have secrets.” He suggested she didn’t need to dress up for work because “who was she trying to impress?”

By the time Brooke finally ended it, she’d realized she’d spent 12 months walking on eggshells in her own life.

She worked as a veterinary technician at a clinic in southeast Portland. She loved her job even though it meant coming home covered in dog hair and occasionally getting bitten by terrified cats.

Dererick had always made comments about how she should find something more professional. This really meant something he could brag about to his friends.

Brooke was so much happier now that she didn’t have to justify her choices to someone who’d never actually respected them in the first place.

Except Dererick wouldn’t let her be happy in peace. He kept texting and kept showing up at places he knew she’d be.

He kept asking for “just one more conversation” to get closure. This was despite Brooke having given him closure multiple times in multiple ways.

Today, he’d apparently followed her to the park or tracked her location somehow. Brooke watched him stand up and start walking toward her bench.

He had that determined expression that meant he was about to launch into another speech about how they were good together and she was making a mistake.

She looked around desperately for an exit strategy. She spotted a guy with a little girl at the playground about 30 feet away.

She made a decision that was either brilliant or completely unhinged depending on how the next two minutes went.

Julian Cross was pushing his six-year-old daughter Iris on the swings. He was only half-paying attention because Iris had been on the swings for 20 minutes and could basically do it herself.

He was thinking about the dinner shift he had to work tomorrow at the diner and whether he needed to pick up groceries on the way home.

A woman appeared next to him looking absolutely terrified. She was probably around 30 with dark blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing jeans and a sweater.

She leaned in close and said in a quiet, urgent voice,

“I’m so sorry to bother you, but I need a huge favor. Can you act like you love me please, just for like one minute? There’s a guy who won’t leave me alone and I think if he thinks I’m with someone he’ll finally back off.”

Julian’s protective instincts kicked in immediately. He didn’t even think about it; he just went straight into action mode.

He put his arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head like they’d done this a thousand times before.

“There you are babe, I was wondering where you went. Iris was just asking about you,” he said loud enough for whoever was watching to hear.

The woman sagged against him in relief. Iris had stopped swinging and was staring at them with a confused expression.

“Daddy, who is that lady?”

And Julian gave her a look that said, “Just go with it.”

“This is my friend Brooke, remember I told you about her?”

Which was a complete lie, but Iris was six and thought everything was a game.

“Oh yeah, hi Miss Brooke.”

Brooke waved at Iris and tried to smile, even though Julian could feel her shaking slightly.

A guy was walking toward them now, tall with dark hair and an entitled expression that Julian recognized from every dude who’d ever thought “no” meant “maybe.”

The guy stopped a few feet away and looked between Julian and Brooke with obvious confusion.

“Brooke, I thought we were going to talk.”

Brooke’s voice came out steadier than Julian expected.

“I told you we have nothing to talk about, Derek. I’m here with my boyfriend and his daughter. Please leave me alone.”

Dererick’s eyes narrowed. He looked at Julian like he was trying to decide if this was worth challenging.

Julian shifted so he was slightly between Dererick and Brooke. He didn’t say anything threatening, just stood there radiating energy that said, “Try me and see what happens.”

Derek must have decided it wasn’t worth the confrontation because he held up his hands in a fake surrender gesture.

“My bad, I thought you were someone else. Enjoy your day.”

He walked away, but not before shooting Brooke a look that suggested this wasn’t over.

Brooke stayed pressed against Julian’s side until Dererick was completely out of sight. Then she stepped back and put her hands over her face.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. That was so weird. I just panicked and you were right there and I didn’t know what else to do.”

Julian could see she was about two seconds away from either crying or having a full panic attack.

He guided her to sit on the bench near the playground while Iris went back to the swings.

“Hey, it’s okay. You don’t need to apologize. That guy was giving off serious creep vibes. Are you all right?”

Brooke nodded, but her hands were still shaking when she pushed her hair back.

“He’s my ex-boyfriend. We broke up four months ago and he won’t accept it. He keeps showing up everywhere I go and asking for another chance.”

“I’ve told him no so many times, but he just doesn’t hear it.”

Julian felt anger spike in his chest because he had dealt with entitled guys before. They always thought their feelings mattered more than anyone else’s boundaries.

“Has he threatened you? Because if he has, you need to call the police. This is stalking behavior.”

Brooke shook her head.

“He’s not dangerous, he’s just persistent. He can’t seem to understand that no means no. I thought if he saw me with someone else, he’d finally get it and leave me alone.”

They sat there for a minute while Julian processed what had just happened. Iris came running over, demanding to know if they could go get ice cream, which was her solution to most of life’s problems.

Julian looked at Brooke.

“Do you want to walk with us for a bit? Just in case he’s still around.”

Brooke looked so relieved she might cry.

“Are you sure? I don’t want to impose. You’ve already done so much.”

Julian pulled out his phone.

“Give me your number. If this guy shows up again and you need backup, call me. I work weird hours at a diner, but I can usually get away for a few minutes. Nobody should have to deal with that alone.”

Brooke typed her number into his phone with shaking hands.

“Thank you, seriously. You have no idea how much this means. Most people would have just walked away.”

They ended up getting ice cream because Iris wouldn’t let it go. Brooke bought Julian’s cone as a thank you, even though he protested.

They sat on a bench outside the ice cream shop while Iris demolished a chocolate cone that was definitely too big for her.

“So you’re a line cook?” Brooke asked after Julian mentioned his job.

He nodded.

“Yeah, at Bernie’s Diner over on Hawthorne. Nothing fancy, but it pays the bills and the hours work with Iris’s school schedule. What about you?”

Brooke smiled for the first time since the park.

“I’m a vet tech at Hawthorne Animal Clinic, so we’re practically neighbors work-wise. I love it, even though I come home smelling like wet dog most days.”

Julian laughed.

“Iris has been begging for a dog for like two years. Maybe you can help me figure out what kind doesn’t destroy apartments.”

They talked for another 20 minutes about easy things: Portland rain, good food carts, and the nightmare of finding parking anywhere.

By the time they parted ways, Brooke looked less terrified and more just exhausted.

Julian watched her walk to her car and made sure she got in safely before loading Iris into his truck.

His daughter immediately asked,

“Daddy, is Miss Brooke really your girlfriend or were you pretending?”

Julian had to explain in six-year-old terms that sometimes adults need help, and pretending is okay if it keeps someone safe.

Iris seemed satisfied with that answer and went back to talking about her ice cream.

But Julian kept thinking about how scared Brooke had looked and how that Derek guy had tried to play it off like he hadn’t been harassing her.

He hoped she’d actually call if she needed help again because something told him this wasn’t over.

Brooke drove home to her apartment feeling like she’d just run a marathon.

She kept checking her rearview mirror to make sure Dererick wasn’t following her, because at this point she wouldn’t put it past him.

She looked at Julian’s number saved in her phone under “Julian Park Hero.”

She felt overwhelming gratitude mixed with embarrassment because she’d basically ambushed a complete stranger and asked him to fake a relationship.

Instead of calling her crazy or walking away, he just immediately helped without asking questions.

She told herself she probably wouldn’t need to call him. She hoped Dererick had finally gotten the message and would leave her alone now that he thought she’d moved on.

But some part of her knew better. Having Julian’s number felt like having a lifeline she desperately hoped she wouldn’t need.